Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 11:42:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: { brad brace } <bbrace-AT-ncal.verio.com>
Subject: Re: Introduction to the list.



On Tue, 18 Aug 1998, Ostrow/Kaneda wrote:

>  ahhhh arcadian dreams of Babel -- when each spoke for themself in their
> own tongue -- sorta like the internet where all is leveld-- byte by byte --
> what might we hope for  but to squeeze our toes once again in the
> primordial ooze  --  a dream the dream of erudition and noble knowledge --

Seems like you're already up to your knees in this very binary ooze. 
Careful now; soon you'll have an email address; be participating in
mailing-lists... can a homepage be far-off?

> Riciprocally to criticize for seeking  parameters  is  but to be a product
> of the times.  This not only forms our consciousness but also our critical
> relation to the  world. Apparentlyto set  about to resolve the
> contradictions that arose from a one sided modernist approach to such
> questions  is not as preferable as returning to or advancing to some
> imagined ideal state.  By the way where did you go to school, who taught
> you to read and think for yourself while all those around you were being
> enslaved?

During the 80's, "postmodern" pessimists claimed that the DIY gift economy
would always be defeated by market capitalism. Yet, at the end of the
90's, it is thriving within the most technologically advanced sector of
the economy. Everyday, Net users circulate gifts of information amongst
each other. What was once revolutionary has become banal. 

This time, this utopia of mass participation does not simultaneously
justify the leadership of the artistic elite. What's a poor radical
intellectual to do? 



/:b





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